Although Live released its first big-label disc, Mental Jewelry (which was produced by former Talking Head Jerry Harrison), in 1991, most of the band had been together for quite a while. All hailing from York, Pennsylvania, Chad Gracey, Patrick Dahlheimer, and Chad Taylor began playing together in middle school, adding Kowalczyk after the three failed to win the Great York Talent Hunt. The follow-up disc, which differed from those of many other alternative bands because of Live's wish to, in the words of lead singer Ed Kowalczyk, “…make it more than your average trip down angst lane,” was Throwing Copper (1994), which yielded “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes,” and eventually sold more than six million copies. Live released its third album in 1997, Secret Samadhi.